Page 38 of Soulgazer

“Happy to serve, Captain.” Nessa leans against the wall, lookingme over with shameless curiosity. “The crew and I were just wondering if you plan to introduce our newest member, or if you’ll be keeping her all to yourself. Considering we’ve been searching for her most of the year and all.”

“And you couldn’t wait another hour?” Faolan groans, but the sound holds no real disdain. “Right. Give us five minutes, would you?”

“You can only last that long? Captain, I’m shocked.”

“Away with you, demon!” Faolan laughs as he tosses a pillow at the closing door, and I clutch the blankets with a white-knuckled grip, jaw slack and eyes wide.

“You let your crew talk to you like that?”

“Why in shade’s realm wouldn’t I?” Faolan rolls onto his back, running a hand across his face. “People shouldn’t curb themselves of harmless impulses. Besides, if I tried to control all their tongues, we’d never get anything done.”

I think of my father’s silent guards, the oil-slick speeches at court and whispers in the dark. I also remember Faolan at the Damhsa that first night, and the way half his audience had stars in their eyes for whatever tale he’d spun.

“I see.”

“Grand so.” Faolan pushes off the bed, energy ebbing and flowing from him faster than the wind shifting over the sea. “Never mind the silver and gold trick. We’ll have another go later. And again after that—as many times as it takes to spark something. And if that doesn’t work, I’ve a whole chest down below full of bones, cards, and druid fodder.”

Faolan turns to me, hooking the gold earring through his left ear, where it snatches the morning sun. I close my mouth with a snap, panic trickling into my chest.

“And if none of it works?”

“Something will. Don’t forget, I’ve seen those eyes of yours churning.” He pauses. Tilts his head. “Why did you run that night, after you kissed me? I meant to ask you before.”

“It was nothing.” The words come too fast. I fill my mouth with bread before any more can slip out.

Faolan frowns but reaches for a pair of knives on his desk, belting them around his waist with practiced ease. “Nothing had you at a full sprint away from me at the Damhsa, did it?”

I almost choke as I swallow. “You surprised me.”

“Aye, well…at least we know something works.” Faolan winks, plucks the flower free of the tray, and tucks it into my hair. I go perfectly still.

“Now, get dressed. It’s time you met the crew before they all find some pitiful excuse to barge in.”

Fourteen

I’m still attempting to secure the two braids I wove behind my head with a ribbon when Faolan drags me onto the deck, whistling a bird’s trill that draws every eye right to us. My fingers slip, and dark hair falls into my eyes again until he circles behind me, gathering the pieces to tie them himself.

“Oi! Tavin, Nessa, Brona—come meet my wife, would you?”

My breath catches as three figures peel away from ropes and wooden things I’ve no name for, having been on a ship exactly once in my life before. And Da barely let me out of my cabin before we reached the Damhsa.

The first of the crew to approach is a tall man with wiry limbs, tawny skin, and a strong profile. His hair is the color of onyx, long and straight aside from a knot formed just at the top to keep it from tangling in his short beard. His dark eyes slant up in a fashion common along the eastern waters of the Isle of Frozen Hearth, and they warm considerably with his smile.

Faolan claps a hand on his shoulder. “This is Tavin, the finest quartermaster and seanchaí you’ll ever meet in your life. You get into a squabble with anyone on deck, he’s the one you want to settle things.”

“You think this mouse would get herself into a fight, Captain?” The pale, freckled woman from before stops beside Tavin with a smirk. “Nessa. First mate and master of weaponry.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Faolan lets his arm fall behind me. “You’d be surprised, Ness. She’s got some teeth, my Saoirse.”

I jerk away from the hand he settles at my back. I’ve never been anyone’s before, not truly.

Do I…belong to him now?

No—not with all his talk of collars and freedom. It’s just a game. He said as much in the cabin below, didn’t he?

A new figure steps into the circle, smaller than the others and delicate in a way I always longed to be. Her hair is so dark, it’s a match for the shadows cast below the sails, woven into three thick braids that swirl together in a knot at the base of her skull. She’s of an age with me, and wearing the first dress I’ve seen since boarding the ship, though it’s a nut-brown, practical thing without the courtly embellishments of my own home.